National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_MArch 2011 3/17/11 9:26 PM Page 8 WRAP-UP REPORT California the more teeth a law has for enforcement, the better. That's why the California Nurses Association has sponsored new legislation that would stiffen penalties for hospitals breaking the safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios. SB 554, introduced by Sen. Leland Yee, would allow the state to go beyond just citations and actually fine hospitals that repeatedly violate the safe staffing law. It would also direct the Department of Public Health to check hospital compliance with ratios during routine inspections. "This important bill will close that loophole for the benefit of patients and nurses, and assure a level playing field for all California hospitals," said DeAnn McEwen, an ICU RN and copresident of CNA/NNU. Maine registered nurses in Maine are on the offensive against a series of union-busting bills pending in their state Legislature that would attack nurses' rights to act as patient advocates. Promoted by Gov. Paul LePage and known as "right-to-work" legislation, these bills target both public- and privatesector workers by preventing unions from collecting even the dues needed to represent employees and bargain their contracts. "These bills are intended to destroy our unions," said Dawn Kerekes, an RN at Houlton Regional Hospital. "It will make it so that people can get the benefits of the union without having to pay their fair share of the dues." RNs with the Maine State Nurses Association spoke out against these bills at a press conference March 2, in conjunction with their national lobbying day at the Legislature in support of safe lift 8 N AT I O N A L N U R S E and workplace violence bills they are sponsoring this year. Massachusetts got immediate notice and generated much buzz; visitors, patients, and other staff immediately whipped out cell phones and started to snap photos. The nurses are locked in a protracted dispute with management over their proposal that their new contract include specific RN-topatient ratios on every unit. "Management needs to understand that this issue is not going away, and we intend to do whatever it takes to communicate our concerns until we get what we need to protect our patients," said Marlena Pellegrino, a medical-surgical RN and chair of the local bargaining unit. —Staff Report Top: Doris Sherman, an RN from Maine, opposes proposed union-busting legislation for her state. Bottom: MNA RNs at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass. stage a flash mob for patient safety in the hospital atrium. borrowing from the playbook of the mobile age, registered nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester organized a "flash mob" for safe staffing in the atrium of the hospital on Feb. 7, with more than 35 individual nurses holding letters that, when lined up, read "safe staffing now!" A flash mob is typically a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, often to perform a choreographed song, dance, or some other unusual event. Their message W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G MARCH 2011

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